European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas voiced strong support for North Macedonia’s path to become a full-fledged member of the bloc on her last stop of a three-day visit to the Western Balkan hopefuls.
Speaking alongside Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski in Skopje on Thursday, Kallas said the EU “stands firmly” with North Macedonia and praised the country’s progress on economic growth, reforms, and alignment with EU foreign and security policies.
“North Macedonia belongs to the European Union,” she said.
After years of little to no movement on their respective membership paths, Brussels has rescuscitated accession talks with countries in Europe’s southeast after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, after fears emerged that Moscow or other malign actors might capitalise on any instability in what has been dubbed the continent’s “soft underbelly”.
The EU foreign policy chief again reiterated these concerns, warning that non-integration of the Western Balkans into the 27-member bloc remains a security risk.
“The European Union is a peace project,” she said, “and full integration of the region helps reduce tensions.”
‘We’ve faced challenges no other country has encountered’
Considered an early frontrunner following the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, North Macedonia has remained on the receiving end of EU membership vetoes over bilateral disputes with EU member states Greece and Bulgaria.
After resolving the decades-long standoff with Athens by signing the 2018 Prespa Agreement, Skopje again saw its membership bid conditioned by further demands, this time by Sofia.
“Unfortunately, for more than 20 years, we’ve faced challenges that no other country — I would say in the Western Balkans, or even those that are now EU member states — has encountered,” Mickoski told Euronews Serbia in an interview last week.
“Let me remind you: together with Croatia, we were granted candidate status for EU membership back in 2005 — nearly 20 years ago. Since 2008, both Croatia and North Macedonia received a positive report from the European Commission recommending the start of negotiations with the EU,” the Macedonian premier explained.
“Unfortunately, 20 years later, we are still in the same place we were back then.”
“Our path toward full EU membership is burdened with bilateral issues, and most often, these are issues tied to identity, as well as to historical events that happened 10 or more centuries ago,” Mickoski added.
“Sadly, no living person can testify to what exactly happened 10 centuries ago, so we are unable to find a resolution today.”
“Instead of negotiating about the future — about the 22nd century, about the challenges of the 21st century, artificial intelligence, major energy transitions, and all current global topics — we have been stuck for 20 years due to bilateral disputes. And we are still where we were exactly 20 years ago.”
Recently, Albania and Montenegro have emerged as the region’s main frontrunners for EU membership. Serbia, North Macedonia and Bosnia are the other three candidate countries among the Western Balkan six, while Kosovo still remains a potential candidate.
Additional sources • EBU